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57-486: Newman and Lois Holzman created a therapeutic modality, Social Therapy . Newman insisted "that there was nothing wrong with psychotherapists having sex with patients". Along with Lenora Fulani , Newman controlled several socialist and progressive political, therapy, and dramatic collective groups across the USA. These groups promoted "friendosexuality", which encouraged members to sleep with each other. Newman strongly objected to

114-407: A Marxist , a philosophy that he incorporated into his therapeutic approach in an attempt to address the alienating effects of societal institutions on human development. In his earliest statement of his attempt to develop a Marxist approach to emotional problems, Newman wrote in 1974: Proletarian or revolutionary psychotherapy is a journey which begins with the rejection of our inadequacy and ends in

171-453: A "core collective" that still functions. That claim appears to be consistent with critics who had alleged several years earlier that the organization had never actually disbanded and remained secretly active. Throughout the late 1970s, Newman and his core of organizers founded or assumed control of a number of small grassroots organizations, including a local branch of the People's Party , known as

228-581: A Dennis King or others like him." Cult allegations arose again a 1982 article in the Village Voice . When political researcher Chip Berlet became editor of The Public Eye magazine in 1984, he announced that the magazine no longer held to that characterization: As you will learn from a forthcoming article on Fred Newman and the IWP, the Public Eye no longer feels it is accurate to call Newman's political network

285-609: A Lifetime. She is the chair and chief organizer of the Performing the World bi-annual conference, which supports performance activism and emerging social change . In 2018, she became a Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Vygotskian Practice and Performance at Lloyd International Honors College , The University of North Carolina at Greensboro . Otto Ren%C3%A9 Castillo Otto René Castillo (April 25, 1934 – March 23, 1967)

342-523: A Marxist approach to therapy. Social therapy came, in later years, to be influenced by other thinkers (notably Vygotsky and Wittgenstein) and other therapeutic approaches (notably cognitive behavioral therapy). The Practice of Method exposes the roots of social therapy. It is the beginning of a continuing investigation of method in the study of human growth and development, to which Newman (together with his chief collaborator, Lois Holzman) returns again and again in his later work. "Undecidable Emotions (What

399-817: A better world (2018), Vygotsky at work and play (2009), Performing psychology: A postmodern culture of the mind (1999), and Psychological investigations: A clinician's guide to social therapy (2003). She and Newman co-authored the widely cited volume Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary scientist (1993) and The end of knowing: A new developmental way of learning (1997). Holzman received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Rhode Island College in 1967. She continued her education studying Linguistics at Columbia University and Brown University . She completed her PhD in Development Psychology and Psycholinguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1977. As

456-417: A cult. We do feel that at one point in its development it was fair to characterize the group as a cult, and we still have strong criticisms of the group's organizing style and the relationship between Newman's Therapy Institute and his political organizing. In 1988, a special issue of Radical America carried a series of articles and essays alleging manipulation, political deceit, and cult-like practices within

513-401: A graduate student, Holzman conducted research on the development of causal language and the role of imitation in language development with Lois Bloom (publishing under the name Lois Hood). After graduation, Holzman completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University where she worked with Michael Cole , and later joined the faculty of Empire State College, SUNY . Holzman visited

570-718: A letter to the All Stars Project's Board of Directors, Newman explained that he did not "want any of the controversy associated with my views and opinions to create unnecessary difficulties for the All Stars Project." The cable program contained segments of an interview in which Newman discussed his longstanding opposition to having his therapeutic approach being governed by the American Psychological Association 's ethical guidelines, notably those prohibiting sexual relations with patients. Some of Newman's plays have been cited as examples of alleged anti-Semitism by

627-430: A multi-racial, black led, woman led, pro gay, political party, an organization which recognizes and fights against racism, sexism, classism and homophobia – but NAP is a lie. NAP is always using the slogan: "the personal is political" and emphasizing the importance of enacting one's politics into daily life. But this vision and the way their politics are enacted within the organization and life of those working for them

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684-605: A point of attack by unfriendly media, the political networking has given the All Stars Project access to some halls of power that would have otherwise been closed." The Columbia researchers noted on page 14 of their report praised the political character of the All Stars program: "Although political activism is not an explicit part of the All Stars and the DSY curriculum, it is an outcome of the programs. Young people who are empowered to get what they want are also likely to fight for what they think

741-469: A scene that doesn't relate to them, but allows them to play and talk freely, and get to know each other in a relaxed, playful context. Afterward, they can sit down and talk to each other about their hardships and how they would like to be treated by one another and find common ground. Holzman was involved in the development of educational programming at the Barbara Taylor School and Performance of

798-468: A short commemorative documentary about Castillo, entitled Ganz Berlin ist in deinen Augen... ( Todo Berlin esta en tus ojos... ), produced by DEFA Studio fuer Dokumentarfilme in Berlin . The early to mid-1960s saw the publication of the only two volumes of work put into print during Castillo's lifetime, Poema Tecún Umán and Vámonos patria a caminar . In 1966, he clandestinely returned to Guatemala and joined

855-474: A woman, I have always been taught that self-sacrifice is good and that I must be willing to give up everything for the greater good for all. Traditionally, this has come in the form of a husband and children; NAP is simply a substitute. I felt totally powerless over my life, forced into a very submissive role where all control of my life belonged to someone else. In 1989, Newman told The New York Times that his critics were "being sectarian and refusing to recognize

912-580: Is Social Therapy? And How Is it Revolutionary?)" (Newman, 2003, Journal of Constructivist Psychology ) seeks to illuminate a revolutionary approach to group therapy by an appeal to – of all things – twentieth century discoveries in science and mathematical logic. "All Power to the Developing'" (Newman & Holzman, 2003, Annual Review of Critical Psychology ) examines the two Marxist notions, class struggle ( The Communist Manifesto ) and revolutionary activity ( Theses on Feuerbach ). Newman considered himself

969-442: Is characterized as "revolution for non-revolutionaries." In addition to Marx, it uses the insights of Vygotsky and Wittgenstein. It seeks to enlist "patients" in the collective work of constructing new environments that challenge the commodification of emotionality, and re-ignite human development. The Practice of Method , is the seminal written work on social therapy , the first published formulation by Newman and his colleagues of

1026-458: Is right ... [T]he participants and staff of the ASTSN/DSY (All Stars Talent Show Network/Development School for Youth) have developed policy approaches to working with youth that are practical, efficient, and successful. That they have also worked to develop some influence in the halls of power is a tremendous asset to the development of the programs—as well as to the political process, which needs all

1083-557: Is very much in conflict. As a working class lesbian, I thought I had finally found a political movement which included me. What I found instead was an oppressive, disempowering, misogynistic machine. All my decisions were made for me by someone else. I was told where to go, and who to go with. I worked seven days a week – 16 to 20 hours a day (I had two days off in 2.5 months). There was an incredible urgency which overrode any personal needs or considerations, an urgency that meant complete self-sacrifice. I realize now how sexist that is. As

1140-523: The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which Newman described as "politically motivated". In his play No Room for Zion (1989), Newman recounts the transition in his own Bronx Jewish community from primarily working class to increasingly middle class and upwardly mobile, rapidly losing its identity as an immigrant community tied to traditional ideals (represented by the Rabbi Zion of the play's title). In

1197-601: The City College of New York under the GI Bill . In 1962, he earned a Ph.D. in analytic philosophy and in foundations of mathematics from Stanford University . Newman taught at several colleges and universities in the 1960s, including the City College of New York, Knox College , Case Western Reserve University , and Antioch College . Newman was twice married and divorced. He had two children, Donald Newman and Elizabeth Newman. He

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1254-761: The medical model of mental health . She was instrumental in introducing the ideas of Lev Vygotsky to the fields of psychotherapy , organizationa l and community development . In 2014, Holzman received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cultural-Historical Research Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association . Holzman is the author or co-author of multiple books including The overweight brain: How our obsession with knowing keeps us from getting smart enough to make

1311-551: The Agency's vote to approve the bonds, noting "I don't think I heard one argument made that there was something wrong with the All Stars Project and that's what we look at." In 1977, an article by Dennis King in Heights and Valley News alleged Newman was the leader of a " therapy cult ". The Public Eye magazine also carried an article in late 1977 making the claim, but it was primarily directed at Lyndon LaRouche 's NCLC (with which Newman

1368-509: The All Stars Project, Inc., supported Newman's therapeutic endeavors, such as a number of supplementary education programs for youth, including the Joseph A. Forgione Development School for Youth. On December 6, 2005, Newman announced his retirement as the Castillo's artistic director in the wake of controversy over a six-part series the previous month on NY1 News (a cable television news channel). In

1425-536: The All Stars programs, which were described as "an exemplary effort in a field that is bursting with creative activity". The authors noted that they had "not had access to data referable to the impact of these interventions on the short or long term behavioral development of learner participants". The report made only one brief reference (on page 9) to controversies regarding All Stars staff and volunteers being "involved in various political movements, most centrally Independent [sic] Party politics ... [w]hile sometimes used as

1482-780: The Castillo Theatre in New York. The theater, named for the Guatemalan poet Otto René Castillo , has served as the primary venue for the production of the 30 plays that Newman wrote since the 1980s, four of which were written for and performed at annual conventions of the American Psychological Association from 1996 onwards. Newman described the Castillo Theatre as a "sister" organization to his social therapy clinics and institutes, where he also used Vygotsky's methodological approach. Writing in 2000 in New Therapist, Newman and Holzman discussed

1539-590: The Democratic Party. Some of the cult criticisms have been disputed by some of Newman's therapist peers. According to British psychologist Ian Parker , "Even those [Newman and Holzman] who have been marked by the FBI as a 'cult' may still be a source of useful radical theory and practice. Like a weed, a cult is something that is growing in the wrong place. We would want to ask 'wrong' for who, and whether it might sometimes be right for us. We have no desire to line up with

1596-615: The IDA board voted 6 to 4 in favor of approving the bond. All those in favor were mayoral appointees or representatives of ex officio members who were mayoral appointees. All those opposed were representatives of the offices of the Borough Presidents of Manhattan , the Bronx, and Queens , as well as the office of then- New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. . After the vote, IDA chairman Joshua J. Sirefman told reporters that, based on

1653-434: The IDA's review of the All Stars Project, "[w]e have determined that the organization is in good standing, we found no evidence of misconduct of any kind by the organization, and we established that the project would benefit New York City... We are aware that allegations of wrongdoing by individuals associated with the organization existed a number of years ago." In subsequent news coverage, Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended

1710-582: The Independence Party to support Republican candidate Michael Bloomberg in 2001 , 2005 , and 2009 . In 2002, the New York City Industrial Development Agency (with agreement by the state) approved an $ 8.5 million bond to help finance a new headquarters for a youth charity controlled by Newman and Lenora Fulani , Newman's chief spokesperson and a prominent Independence Party public figure. The media characterized approval of

1767-663: The Institute of Psychology in Moscow in 1980 to study the work of Vygotsky and his followers. In 1985, Holzman and Fred Newman founded the East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy, which promotes humanistic approaches to psychotherapy . Together they introduced social therapeutics as a form of group therapy to help people solve problems. The East Side Institute became an international education, training and research center for social therapeutics. In 2010, she became

Fred Newman (philosopher) - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-554: The NAP. While Berlet, who had contributed to the issue, noted that Fulani "deserves tremendous credit for apparently gaining ballot status in a majority of states," the editors concluded that there were "dangerous ... implications" in failing to confront Newman and his groups: "Painful and unpleasant as it is, the time has come to expose the NAP before it discredits the Left – especially among blacks, gays and those exploring progressive politics for

1881-577: The NCLC's "capacity to produce psychosis and to opportunistically manipulate it in the name of socialist politics." In August 1974, the CFC went on to found the International Workers Party (IWP), a revolutionary party that was explicitly Marxist-Leninist . In the wake of another factional fight in 1976, the IWP publicly disbanded. In 2005, Newman told The New York Times that the IWP had transformed into

1938-677: The New York Working People's Party; the New York City Unemployed and Welfare Council; and the Labor Community Alliance for Change. In 1979, Newman became one of the founders of the New Alliance Party (NAP), which was most notable for getting African-American psychologist and activist Lenora Fulani on the ballot in all 50 states during her 1988 presidential campaign, making her the first African-American and

1995-447: The Party which did not even exist at the time." Goodman noted the timing of the petition appeared "more political than philosophical." More to the point, however, the petitioned grounds for disenrollment were ruled invalid because "there are no enunciated standards or requirements for persons registering in the Party." As a result, Newman and Fulani were not removed. Newman strongly encouraged

2052-529: The Vygotskian thread that linked the sister organizations: The entire enterprise - human life and its study - is a search for method. Performance social therapeutics, the name we use to describe our Marxian-based, dialectical practice, originated in our group therapy but is also the basis for a continuously emergent development community. We coined the term tool-and-result methodology for Vygotsky's (and our) practice of method in order to distinguish it from

2109-435: The acceptance of our smallness; it is the overthrow of the rulers of the mind by the workers of the mind. Later, Newman incorporated other influences, including the 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and Aleksey Leontyev and Sergei Rubinshtein's activity theory , and the work of early Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky . Newman was a cofounder (1983), artistic director (1989–2005), and playwright-in-residence of

2166-500: The bond as a reward from Mayor Bloomberg and as well as an incentive by Governor George Pataki to obtain Newman and Fulani's support for his re-election campaign. In 2003, the Institute for Minority Education of Columbia University's Teachers College undertook an evaluation of All Stars programs, which was coordinated and funded by All Stars Project staff and supporters. The 124-page report was based on extensive on-site observation of two of

2223-416: The chair of Global Outreach at the All Stars Project, which helps create opportunities for positive youth development. Using play to mitigate potentially hostile relationships between the police and young people of color, The All Stars Project introduced Operation Conversation: Cops and Kid s to the training of NYPD police officers. Operation Conversation invites police officers and young people to improvise

2280-623: The classification of these groups as a "cult", and argued that "there is no such thing as a cult". Because Newman's organizations frequently changed names, followers of Newman have been called Newmanites or the Newman Tendency . Newman was born in 1935 in The Bronx of New York City . Newman grew up in a working-class neighborhood. He served in the US Army , including a stint in Korea . Then, he attended

2337-619: The direction it can get in developing and implementing policy." In 2006, the New York City Industrial Development Agency performed a review of the All Stars pursuant to an All Stars application for a bond. Several Democratic Party officials expressed strong opposition. Critics of the IDA bond, including New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi , charged that the All Stars were connected to "leaders who have taken positions that are misogynistic and Anti-Semitic", and questioned whether Newman and Fulani still ran All Stars, despite their having stepped down from official positions. Despite public criticisms,

Fred Newman (philosopher) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2394-440: The dirty Jew, once the ultimate victim of capitalism's soul, fascism, would become a victimizer on behalf of capitalism, a self-righteous dehumanizer and murderer of people of color, a racist bigot whom in the language of Zionism changed the meaning of "Never Again" from "Never Again for anyone" to "Never again for us – and let the devil take everyone else. The ADL also criticized the Newman's 2004 play, Crown Heights , which

2451-538: The extraordinary accomplishments" of Fulani and the NAP leadership. Interviewed in the Times in 1991, Newman described the criticisms as "absurd" and the product of jealousies on the left and claimed that most social therapy clients do not involve themselves in his political activities. In the Boston Globe in 1992, Fulani claimed "the entire thing is a lie" and cited what she described as Political Research Associates' ties to

2508-487: The first time." A former NAP campaign worker, Loren Redwood, gave a much more critical account of her experiences with the party in a 1989 letter to the editor of Coming Up! , a lesbian and gay newspaper published in San Francisco. In the letter, Redwood describes her falling in love with a NAP campaign worker and the difficulties she encountered after joining her lover on the road campaigning for Fulani: NAP claims to be

2565-688: The first woman to do so. Newman served primarily as the party's tactician and campaign manager. In 1985, Newman ran for Mayor of New York . He also ran for US Senator that year and for New York State Attorney General in 1990. After the New Alliance Party was dissolved in 1994, a number of its members and supporters, including Newman and Fulani, joined the Independence Party of New York (IPNY). It had been founded by activists in Rochester, New York in 1991 but became more important in other parts of

2622-679: The instrumental tool for result methodology that characterizes the natural and social sciences (Newman and Holzman, 1993). Our community building and the projects that comprise it - the East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy, the East Side Center for Social Therapy and affiliated centers in other cities, the Castillo Theatre, the All Stars Talent Show Network, the Development School for Youth, etc. - are practices of this methodology. The Castillo and its parent charity,

2679-524: The late 1960s after the student strikes at Columbia University . CFC was dedicated to 1960s-style, radical community organizing and the practice of Newman's evolving form of psychotherapy, which he would term around 1974 "proletarian therapy" and later " Social Therapy ." CFC briefly merged with Lyndon LaRouche 's National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC) in 1974, but a few months, the alliance fell apart, an event that Newman attributed to LaRouche's increasingly "paranoid" and "authoritarian" direction and to

2736-516: The next several years in and out of exile, including a period of time spent in East Germany at the University of Leipzig . A handful of younger writers—those who were just beginning to publish or had not yet done so—headed for El Salvador, joining up with young Salvadorans sharing the same concerns. The Salvadorans had already gathered around the most charismatic figure among them: Roque Dalton. One of

2793-669: The play, Newman goes on to present his view of the postwar shifts in Jewish political alignments, both domestically and internationally: From the West Bank to the West Side of Manhattan, international Jewry was being forced to face its written-in-blood deal with the capitalist devil. In exchange for an unstable assimilation, Jews under the leadership of Zionism would "do-unto-others-what-others-had-done-unto-them." The others to be done unto? People of color. The doing? Ghettoization and genocide. The Jew,

2850-485: The psychological establishment to rule out of the debate those who offer something valuable to anti-racist, feminist or working-class practice." Lois Holzman Lois Holzman is director and co-founder of the East Side Institute in New York, New York, where she developed social therapy methods with Fred Newman . She is known for her research and work on play therapy , social therapy , and criticism of

2907-580: The recently arrived Guatemalans, Otto Rene Castillo, quickly captured Dalton's attention and became the group's ideologue. During the 1960s, these young writers joined up in Mexico with the group of writers that had left Guatemala in 1954. Otto Rene Castillo never married in Guatemala, but during his stay in East Germany, he fathered three sons. Documentary filmmaker Karl-Heinz Mund, together with Werner Kohlert made

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2964-602: The state after the rise of Ross Perot 's Reform Party . In September 2005, the New York State Executive Committee of the Independence Party, under the leadership of IPNY State Chairman Frank MacKay, voted to remove Fulani and several other members. In a letter proposing the matter for vote, MacKay stated Fulani et al. had created the perception that the IPNY leadership tolerated "bigotry and hatred" and had "continually re-affirmed their disturbing social commentary in

3021-542: The state and national press." A later petition by MacKay to have Fulani and Newman, among others, disenrolled from the party was entirely dismissed by the New York Supreme Court in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. Manhattan Justice Emily Jane Goodman wrote that "the statements attributed to Fulani and Newman which many would consider odious and offensive were made by them in 1989 and 1985, respectively, and not in their capacity as Independence Party members or officers in

3078-622: Was a Guatemalan poet , activist , guerrilla fighter and revolutionary . Castillo was born in Quetzaltenango on April 25, 1934, to middle-class parents. Active in progressive politics as a high school student, Castillo went into exile in El Salvador in 1954 after the overthrow of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz by a Central Intelligence Agency -orchestrated coup d'etat . In El Salvador, Castillo met Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton and founded an influential literary circle. He spent

3135-433: Was based on the 1991 riots sparked by the accidental death of a black child who was struck and killed by the motorcade of a prominent local rabbi. The ADL claimed that the production "distorts history and refuels hatred." One reviewer considered the production to be one that "seeks to unite the city's diverse youth and heal some of the wounds of past racial violence." Newman founded the collective Centers for Change (CFC) in

3192-405: Was no longer affiliated). In 1977, Newman responded that "it is of the greatest importance that the entire community of social scientists insist that there be open and critical discussion and dialogue towards the advancement and development of the human sciences; that as scientists and as professionals we do not quiver and shake under the socio-pathological and essentially anti-communist rampages of

3249-440: Was survived by his two life partners, Gabrielle L. Kurlander and Jacqueline Salit, in what Ms. Salit described as an "unconventional family of choice". Newman and his primary collaborator, Lois Holzman , challenged what they described as the "hoax/myth of psychology," the various components of which were termed "destructive pieces of pseudoscience ." In its place, they argued for a theory called " social therapy ". Social therapy

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